With increasing concern for the environment and the need for environmentally acceptable ways of disposing of waste material, it has become increasingly important to develop devices which specifically facilitate the handling and disposing of waste items which, because of their composition or structure, are otherwise difficult to dispose of. One of the most difficult items to dispose of effectively in our modern society is the automotive tire. Used tires, because of their rubber composition are largely non-degradable and due to their size and awkward configuration are difficult to store. Even the burning of used tires is an unattractive alternative because of the smoke and unpleasant odor that is produced.
Accordingly there is a need for devices which effectively and efficiently permit used automotive tires either to be cut into pieces which can be more easily handled or into sections which can be used for other purposes. Particularly where it is contemplated that the tires will be disposed of by burying them it is important that these tires be bisected since the semi-enclosed interior of the uncut tires provides a breeding place for insects and rodents; and, additionally, the tires will not satisfactorily compact.
Various devices have been proposed or used in the past for bisecting tires by cutting through the circumferences of the tread surface; however devices employed for this purpose have possessed a number of disadvantages which the present invention seeks to avoid. Specifically, some devices of the prior art which have been commercially available have required the expenditure of considerable amounts of energy by actually lifting the heavy tire upward into engagement with a cutting blade. These devices have also generally only been useful for cutting a single tire at a time, which is both energy and man power inefficient. A further disadvantage of previously employed devices has been that the cutting blades have been relatively inaccessible and therefore difficult to either sharpen or replace. Further, these devices have only been adapted for bisecting the tire into two roughly equal portions and have not been constructed so that they could be easily adapted to cut the tire or tires into a plurality of more than two pieces either to facilitate disposal of the tire pieces or to permit them to be used in other operations such as manufacturing. Finally, because of the way in which devices of the prior art have been constructed, they have frequently been somewhat hazardous to use and not subject to the complete and instant control of the operator.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide the improved tire cutting device which avoids the disadvantages of the prior art and which is safe, lightweight, easy to use, energy efficient and adapted to a number of variations and operations including the cutting of more than one tire at once into a number of strips.